Hello and Welcome from Jeannette's friend Susan Harris

Once you have completed your support letter send it to Dawn Vrentas at:
dawn330@gmail.com or give her a call - (206)743-5266



Greetings                                                                                                                           April 23, 2012
I am writing to let people know that we have started a Blog for Jeannette to help her friends, family and supporters get and stay in touch and up to date regarding Jeannette’s upcoming Clemency Board Hearing in June. I will give information on how to log-in to the blog at the end of this letter, any comments on the blog will be screened before they will appear on the blog.

A blog is just an online diary - or journal.  You can limit the access to your blog but its like any web site if people have the address they can see your site.  Last post goes to the top of the page and drops the other posts down.   Just scroll up and down till you find what you want to read. 
 Click on "Read more" to read more.


Once you have completed your support letter send it to Dawn Vrentas at:
dawn330@gmail.com or give her a call - (206)743-5266


Two important issues;
Number One:  What the board (and ultimately the Gov.) wants and needs from Jeannette and her supporters in order to recommend her petition to the governor. What several of us came away with is that the board wants specifics.  After talking with Jeannette, she and her therapist feel that the board wants to know specifically what each of us can do to help her once she is released.

1.    Where will she live?
2.   Where will she work?
3.   Does she have financial resources to get her through the first few months of re-entry?

It is hard to pin things like living arrangements down, especially since we don’t know when she will be released or where. In our past letters of support that we sent the board, many of these things were addressed but it didn’t seem to be concrete enough or it got lost in the reams of letters they perused, or maybe they couldn’t put a face/name to the offers.

I think that it would be very helpful if we could all take the time to write a brief letter to the board before her hearing in June.   Reiterating that we are still in support of her release and what specifically we can offer Jeannette upon her release. My letter was short, less than one page; I stated that I had set aside some cash for her and have the resources to get her a new cell phone and put her on my account, etc. I am a resource specialist and will help her learn how to navigate the myriad agencies and businesses that she will be in contact with. I don’t think it has to be just about money but commitment to help her get to know the new city she moves to, or to teach her how to get and use a bank account, debit cards, ATM’s (all foreign to JM). Showing her how to use the public transportation in the city she moves to until she gets transportation. Take her to the resources she may need to access like DSHS, Library, Colleges, support groups etc.

So I am hoping that the Blog will help us brainstorm together and to get in touch with each other and stay up to date with Jeannette and her circumstances

Number two: Jeannette recently received a bill from her attorney who is doing her Clemency Petition. The total to date is $14,000. I thought that if 10 of her friends put in 10 dollars a month, we could send her attorney 100 dollars a month. Some of us may be able to pitch in a little more or not so much. I think her attorney just needs to see some monthly amount coming in consistently. I think that we would just each send whatever we can afford directly to the attorney? Comments please!

Any other ideas? Let’s remember that her petition, if accepted by the board still has to go to the governor’s desk, and as most of you know Governor Gregoire isn’t known for her leniency when it comes to granting petitions. The governor rejects many, many more than she accepts; remember she is an ex-prosecutor.

The Blog will have a letter from Jeannette each week that we will cut and paste and post so that we can all stay in touch with how she is doing.

I would really appreciate and welcome any advice, help, comments, suggestions etc. I am just trying to find a way for all of us to get and stay connected. Remember the hearing is only 5 weeks away.

Here is the blog address; http://jeannettekmurphy.blogspot.com/ Any comments will be reviewed before they are posted just to weed out comments from people who were not invited to the blog site. We are trying to keep this a private site for her friends and family only. I am going to post email addresses on the blog so that we can contact each other but if you do not want this information to be posted please let me know. The emails I am posting came directly from Jeannette.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and the biggest thanks comes from Jeannette!

Susan (Susan K Harris)

Namaste39@comcast.net

253-905-0814



Once you have completed your support letter send it to Dawn Vrentas at:
dawn330@gmail.com or give her a call - (206)743-5266

I am not trying to pessimistic but I thought that I would put in a few quotes from the Seattle Times 2010 regarding the Govenor’s record, reminding us that the Clemency Board isn’t our last hurdle.

Seattle Times, 2010

Gregoire, already stringent with her powers of pardon and commutation, had not granted clemency since the shooting of four Lakewood police officers

Gregoire also appears to have a more restrictive view of clemency than the Clemency and Pardons Board. At least seven times, she has denied a petition that won a positive recommendation from the five-member board —

"It has always seemed clear to me that Washington's clemency process is excruciatingly careful”.... "It moves very slowly."

Gregoire's five-member Clemency and Pardons Board continues vetting and sending her recommendations. Gregoire still has on her desk a backlog of 14 other petitions with unanimous backing from the board.

And from Jeannette’s attorney in 2007:

Gregoire is already unusually tough. As attorney Sheryl Gordon McCloud notes, Gregoire has turned down cases that the clemency board supported.

Regarding the Blog, here is the address:

http://jeannettekmurphy.blogspot.com/

I am having some trouble accessing it in Explorer but my sister and her nephew (who set up the site) got on just fine. If you have any trouble let me know, there may be a few bugs to work out

Once you have completed your support letter send it to Dawn Vrentas at:
dawn330@gmail.com or give her a call - (206)743-5266

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